DUFL: dry advantage

As part of the DUFL, 17 October, the Pitmen U14 and U16 entertained DUFSH FC Vorskla, and Shakhtar U15 and U17 played an away game with UFK (Kharkiv).

In the game of the younger teams, the Poltava side gave the initiative to the Pitmen straight from the start and sat deep in defence. However, it did not prevent Pitmen from getting a desired result. On 6 minutes, a cross from a corner was slotted in by Dmytro Avdeev who put his team in front. The next attack that led to a goal did not take long in coming. After eight minutes Leon Gladkovskyy received a ball inside the penalty area of the visitors, held off the defender’s challenge to plant the ball in. Even with such a result, the opponents rarely attacked and did not threaten the Pitmen. In the second half, the tempo of the game slowed down, the Poltava side did not find energy to bring intrigue back into the match, and the Pitmen confidently brought the game to a win.

Shakhtar U14 head coach Andriy Zabolotnyi has reflected on the game:

- The team took to the pitch with a good morale, we managed to fully dominate the game. Not everything worked out well, there is something to work on. We dominated in the first half, so the second half was intensive. Overall, we are pleased with this game, and how the players worked and proved themselves in certain chances. We will prepare and get ready for the upcoming match.

In the older group Shakhtar did not need much time to find the space in the opponents’ defence. As early as on 12 minutes, Yegor Vyachistyi bore down on goal to send the ball into the net. The Pitmen’s next attack let the Donetsk team to extend the lead. Pavlo Koryakin got on the ball first after the ball bounced to him inside the penalty area before sending the ball into the net. On 29 minutes, the Pitmen’s combination led to a goal from Vadym Bilokur. After the break, Gennadiy Zubov made a number of changes, after that the Poltava defence looked even less effective. The Pitmen attacked dangerously through flanks, every few minutes we would create chances. One of the them on 47 minutes was converted by Bogdan Pribluda, and in the next attack it was Danila Litovchenko who scored a goal. After five minutes, following a powerful shot on the volley Ivan Drozdov got his name on the score sheet after returning from injury – 6-0. Shakhtar did not stop and Egor Vyachistyi, Yaroslav Dobrokhotov and Kyryl Vishnyakov.

- We controlled the ball well, created many chances, - Shakhtar U16 head coach Gennadiy Zubov has reflected on the game. - After the first goal we felt confident. We started the game more aggressively both in defence and attack. During the pre-match instructions, we demanded the boys start carving open the flanks more often and deliver the ball into the penalty area - the boys managed to do it. I think that today we managed to show good and quality football. We thanked the team for the game, now we are going to get ready for the next game.

In the match with UFC U15, Shakhtar took control of the game from the opening minutes. The Pitmen regularly created danger through flanks, where Danylo Prokha and Stanislav Biblik operated energetically. But our team managed to score in the closing stages of the first half. On 28 minutes, Olexiy Sidorov headed the ball in following a cross from the side line, and after four minutes, he sealed his brace in a similar manner. The opponents periodically tried to respond to the Pitmen’s attacks, but all their attempts were denied by Shakhtar’s defence. The visitors kept the tempo, with Egor Morozov wrapping the game up. Thanks to individual actions, the player drifted from flank to the centre before extending the lead with a curling shot. - We dominated proceedings during the whole match, - Shakhtar U15 head coach Oleksandr Ladeyko has reflected on the game. – Although in the second half there was not much combinational play, we operated more individually. During the whole time we were carving open the opposition defence. After we scored the first goal, the team became more relaxed, and the second goal followed. There was confidence in the boys’ actions, even during the break we knew that we would hold on to a win.

As expected, the Pitmen’s senior team faced the opponents’ serious defence. Although Valeriy Rudakov’s charges controlled the game, the Kharkiv side periodically organized dangerous attacks. One of them in the middle of the half almost led to a goal, but it hit the Pitmen’s crossbar. Shakhtar still managed to materialize their dominance into goals. Andriy Kravchuk expertly skipped past three defenders to send a shot into the corner of the net. In the second half the Pitmen continued piling on pressure and carry out positional attacks. But their finishing let them down. Olexiy Kaschuk, Oleg Vakulenko and Maksym Andryuschenko had good chances to score. However, the Pitmen still managed to hold on to a win in Kharkiv.

- We should give credit to the Kharkiv team – they defended competently, - Shakhtar U17 head coach Valeriy Rudakov has granted his post-match comments. – We rushed things a bit in the attacking third, trying to bear down on goal but not everything worked fine in the organisation of attacking actions. We created a lot of good chances but failed to convert them. Of course, the opponents were very motivated, the game proved to be hard. Thus, I would like to thank the boys for their commitment and work. We earned difficult three points.